"Analysis - The lack of good moves really holds Bug-type attackers back."

#PokemonGO: I was looking at the Latias counters list today for some fun options I could mix in for raids where we had more than enough people other than my standard team of 6 dragons. Latias is weak to a bunch of things due to the dual dragon/psychic typing.Looking down the list, I cracked a sad smile when I saw Bug on the list of weakness. Bug types like Scizor have always been some of my favorites from the handheld games, but they're held back in Pogo because their movesets are poor stats-wise and the bug-types released so far in Pogo have reasonable but unelite ATK stats.Some Analysis:Currently in-game we have four bug types with Atk over 230: Heracross 234, Yanmega 231, Scizor 236, Pinsir 238. Here's the Gamepress list of unique Bug-type attackers and neutral dps output:PokemonFast MoveCharge MoveDPSTDOCPPinsirBug BiteX-scissor14.07342.42959ScizorFury CutterX-scissor13.7593503001YanmegaBug BiteBug Buzz13.634347.82946ScytherFury CutterX-scissor12.877309.12706NinjaskFury CutterBug Buzz11.913179.51969HeracrossStruggle BugMegahorn11.743324.13101BeautiflyInfestationBug Buzz11.157148.71765The DPS and TDO results are disappointing to say the least. The best non-boosted non-SE DPS any bug type can achieve right now in Pogo is 14.07. By comparison, Alolan Exeggutor has an ATK of 230 and does 14.12 DPS with average dragon moves. (It would shoot up the list if it had access to Outrage or Draco Meteor) Rayquaza comes in at 18.68DPS. When you start multiplying these neutral DPS numbers by 1.6 for super effective damage, the gap grows even more. A lvl40 Rayquaza does over 20DPS when Latias' high defense is factored in. Scizor and Pinsir are doing around 14.5DPS. That's a gap over 25%.Why are Bug moves so bad?For a deeper-drive, let's look at the Gamepress charge move list to look at their ranking of charge moves. Gamepress made up their own ranking factor by multiplying DPS by DPE (Damage per Energy) as a way to evaluate the moves that would pump out the most damage in a raid. I wasn't familiar with it at first, but upon examination it holds up as a good metric. The DPS is the damage done by the move over the time the move takes. And the DPE is the amount of damage the move does per unit of charge bar energy needed to trigger it. The higher the DPS*DPE the better.https://ift.tt/2TheQG1 moves we know to be incredibly useful and powerful are all at the top of the list. Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Meteor Mash have DPS*DPE ratings in the 70's. Dynamic Punch and Outrage are both right around 60. The first Bug move on the list is WAY down at number 56 overall. (Yes, Origin Pulse and Precipice Blades haven't been released yet.) It's Bug Buzz with a rating of 43.8, which puts it in the same neighborhood as Close Combat, Flamethrower, and Seed Bomb.The fast move analysis is a bit more complicated. Fury Cutter is one of the top energy-per-second generating charge moves in Pogo right now but it's very low damage. Paired with a high-throughput charge move it could really elevate a Bug-type attacker to nice DPS/TDO. Without a good charge move to pair with though, it’s just fast animations and low dps. The other side of the coin when you have a bad charge move is to hope for a high-dps fast move. Our best-hope there is Bug Bite, but it’s an average-at-best move in the "high dps, low energy generation" category. There are very few fast moves in the game that combine both high dps and energy generation, none of them are bug-type.The Future Gen5 brings Volcarona (264 Atk) and Genesect (252 Atk) who could up the game of the Bug-types a bit. Then Gen7 has a few more decent Bug-types including Pheromosa who has an insanely high 316 Atk, but will be a glass cannon like Deoxsys. These will possibly help, but without a new or revamped bug-type charged attack they will still pale in comparison to other damage types. Especially as we continue to see stat creep from generation to generation.So what could Niantic do? The easiest "fix" would be a new charge move for a community day or special event. Something in the 60DPS*DPE range with Grass Knot, Outrage, and Overheat combined with Fury Cutter's elite energy generation would jump bug type attackers like Scizor way up. For example, if there was a theoretical new bug attack with the same stats at Wild Charge, Scizor's DPS goes up from 13.8 with Fury Cutter and X-Scissor to 16.2. A very nice boost that puts it in the same range as Alakazam and Machamp. That would put him in a top5 list of potential counters for at least some raid bosses. A more moderate new charged move with stats something like Zap Cannon would put Scizor in the 15.5 DPS range, equal to Entei & Espeon. A viable "B-level" raid counter, but not a first choice.TL;DR Bug type attackers are held back by poor charged moves. In order for bug types to be a viable raid counter in the future Niantic needs to release an improved bug-type charged attack. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2TljNOl